Tay, Nung ethnic groups celebrate motherhood

The Tay and Nung ethnic minority groups in northern mountainous province of Cao Bang are celebrating their traditional Pay Tai festival on August 28 to honour their mothers’ love and sacrifices.

The annual festival, which takes place on the second and fifteenth day of the first and seventh lunar months, is an opportunity for family relatives to reunite and enjoy traditional local dishes together.

Tay and Nung ethnic women and their husbands bring gifts to their mothers, including ducks – a mascot for Tay and Nung ethnic minorities – and ten “Peng Tai” gai cakes (glutinous rice cakes dyed black and wrapped in leaves).

Vuong Hung, 85, an expert in Cao Bang folk culture who is also from the Tay ethnic minority in the province, said the festival aims to celebrate the current crop harvest and pray for fruitful future crops.

For most Vietnamese people, the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month is also a time to celebrate the Vu Lan (Parents’ Day) festival and remember their ancestors.-VNA